Undermine Sentence Examples

News and information that undermine their credibility or authority aren't so welcome either.

But only gradually did he come to realize that his source of spiritual consolation might undermine altogether the artfully constructed fabric of the medieval Church.

During that year he visited the prison camps in Germany and tried, with very poor success, to undermine the loyalty of Irish soldiers who were prisoners of war, making them alluring promises if they would join an Irish brigade to fight for Ireland against Great Britain.

Was growing to manhood, and his numerous adherents throughout the country spared no efforts to undermine the authority of De Witt, and secure for the young prince of Orange the dignities and authority of his ancestors.

The spectacle of thousands of British subjects kept permanently in the position of helots, constantly chafing under undoubted grievances, and calling vainly to Her Majesty's government for redress, does steadily undermine the influence and reputation of Great Britain, and the respect for British government within the queen's dominions.

Upon the formation of the cabinet of 1853, which was composed by the junction of the surviving followers of Sir Robert Peel with the Whigs, under the earl of Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston accepted with the best possible grace the office of secretary of state for the home office, nor was he ever chargeable with the slightest attempt to undermine that Government.

In 393 (or 39 2 B.C.) he was sent to Tiribazus, satrap of Sardis, to undermine the friendly relations then existing between Athens and Persia by offering to recognize Persian claims to the whole of Asia Minor.

His sagacity discerned that the rationalism by which Bolingbroke and the deistic school believed themselves to have overthrown revealed religion, was equally calculated to undermine the structure of political government.

The statesmen by whom it was established and continued saw in Russia a power which, unless firmly kept within bounds, would dominate Europe; more particularly that it would undermine and supersede British authority in the East.

The first when opened was found to be empty, but the second contained fourteen books relating to philosophy and pontifical law, which were publicly burned as tending to undermine the established religion.

Speaking at Cincinnati on the 23rd of February 1880, he declared that the first thing necessary was to undermine English power by destroying the Irish landlords.

Unhappily, despite its warm assurances of American friendship, this document met with a most hostile reception in Italy, where it was interpreted as an attempt to undermine the position of her spokesmen and so mete out to her a different measure from that prescribed by France and Britain.

Chinchillas live in burrows, and these subterranean dwellings undermine the ground in some parts of the Chilean Andes to such an extent as to cause danger to travellers on horseback.

Having thus disposed of the ideas of truth and causality, he proceeds to undermine the ethical criterion, and denies that any man can aim at Good, Pleasure or Happiness as an absolute, concrete ideal.

The 1VIagnifico then sought to undermine his popularity, and Fra Mariano was employed to attack him from the pulpit.

At Rome and Carthage, and in all other places where sincere Montanists were found, they were confronted by the imposing edifice of the Catholic Church, and they had neither the courage nor the inclination to undermine her sacred foundations.

Nor had he any wish to undermine established beliefs, except where he conceived that they conflicted with a truer religion and a purer morality.

After a visit to his uncle, the archbishop of Reims, he returned to St Sulpice to finish his preliminary training for the church, but in his spare time he read the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and other writers who were beginning to undermine the authority of the ancien regime, both in church and state.

It was these paradoxes that Kant sought to rebut by a more thoroughgoing criticism of the basis of knowledge the substance of which is summed up in his celebrated Refuta tion of Idealism,' wherein he sought to undermine Hume's scepticism by carrying it one step further and demonstrating that not only is all knowledge of self or object excluded, but the consciousness of any series of impressions and ideas is itself impossible except in relation to some external permanent and universally accepted world of objects.

It endeavours, therefore, to undermine all aspirations of this nature and, its own tendency being essentially international, strives to ensure that national sentiment and national interests shall not find over-zealous champions among the clergy.

Moreover, the arguments by which Heraclitus supported this theory of the universal flux are employed by Protagoras to undermine the possibility of objective truth, by dissolving all knowledge into the momentary sensation or persuasion of the individual.

But, at the beginning of the 17th century, when the current of the Catholic reaction was running very strongly and the Jesuits, after subduing the Protestants, began to undermine the position of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania, a more intolerant spirit 1 Cf.

Gertz next attempted to undermine the grand alliance against Sweden by negotiating with Russia, Prussia and Saxony for the purpose of isolating Denmark, or even of turning the arms of the allies against her, a task by no means impossible in view of the strained relations between Denmark and the tsar.

From one-sided Platonism issued the various forms of scepticism, the attempt to undermine the trustworthiness of empirical knowledge.

The resulting reaction caused a regrettable loss of life in the Madras and Bombay famine of 1876-1878; and the Famine Commission of 1880, followed by those of 1898 and 1901, laid down the principle that every possible life must be saved, but that the wages on relief works must be so regulated in relation to the market rate of wages as not to undermine the independence of the people.

They had been strong enough to undermine the imperial power; they were not strong enough to resist the pressure put upon them by a majority of their subjects.

This intention produced me dissensions among the Habsburgs, especially between impertal the emperor and his brother Ferdinand, and other SUCCeS causes were at work, moreover, to undermine the 51011, formers position.

Containing provisions to check attempts to undermine the loyalty of the soldiers, and making it a crime punishable with three years imprisonment to attack religion, monarchy, marriage, the family or property by abusive expressions in such a manner as to endanger public peace.

Sparta could not only rely on voluntary co-operation but could undermine Athenian influence by posing as the champion of autonomy.

Instead of loyally supporting the president in the difficult task of building up a stable state, he did everything in his power to undermine his authority, going so far as to urge the Boers to pay no taxes while Burgers was in office.

The magnificence of its mosques and other public buildings, the number of its schools, and the extent of its warehouses shed lustre on the city; but wealth and luxury began to undermine its prosperity, and its ruin was hastened by the conduct of the Moslem refugees from Spain.

He betrays, too, an insight into the evils which were destined finally to undermine the imposing fabric of Roman eMpire.

Dositheus was so enraged at these suggestions, which were calculated to undermine his position as the Standing One, that he struck at Simon with his staff.

He shows how, for purely personal ends, Kruger allied himself with the British faction who were agitating for annexation, and to undermine him and endeavour to gain the presidency, urged the Boers to pay no taxes.

Lee, from the beginning of the mission to Paris, seems to have been possessed of a mania of jealousy toward Franklin, or of misunderstanding of his acts, and he tried to undermine his influence with the Continental Congress.

No person shall by word of mouth or in writing or in any newspaper, periodical, book, circular, or other printed publication (a) Spread false reports or make false statements; or (b) spread reports or make statements intended or likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty, or to interfere with the success of His Majesty's forces or of the forces of any of His Majesty's allies by land or sea, or to prejudice His Majesty's relations with foreign powers; or (c) spread reports or make statements intended or likely to preju- :lice the recruiting of persons to serve in any of His Majesty's forces, or in any body of persons enrolled for employment under the Army Council or Air Council or entered for service under the direction of the Admiralty, or in any police force or fire brigade, or to prejudice the training, discipline or administration of any such force, body, or brigade; or (d) spread reports or make statements intended or likely to undermine public confidence in any bank or currency notes which are legal tender in the United Kingdom or any part thereof, or to prejudice the success of any financial measures taken or arrangements made by His Majesty's Government with a view to the prosecution of the war;..

The object of the new expedition was (to quote Emin's instructions) "to secure on behalf of Germany the territories situated south of and along Victoria Nyanza up to Albert Nyanza," and to "make known to the population there that they were placed under German supremacy and protection, and to break or undermine Arab influence as far as possible."

When he says (p. 140) that " In Hamilton's successful policy there were certainly germs of an aristocratic republic, there were certainly limitations and possibly dangers to pure democracy," this is practically Jefferson's assertion (1792) that " His system flowed from principles adverse to liberty "; but Jefferson goes on to add: " and was calculated to undermine and demolish the republic."

He took precautions, however, against any of the dead or moribund principalities being resuscitated, and punished with merciless severity any attempt to resist or undermine his authority.